Who it Caters to

Gundam fans out there unite! Gundam Versus has finally released and is ready to hit you with not only nostalgia but true Gundam love. For those who love fighting games and wish to duke it out in one of their favorite Gundams/Mobile Suits, Gundam Versus aims to deliver. Players can go at it solo or go online for 1 vs 1 fights or even 3 vs 3 fights. Gundam Versus delivers the action onto your PS4 system. Get ready to begin the battle in Gundam Versus!

What to Expect

Gundam Versus plays out in an open arena setting. Choose one of your favorite Gundams or Mobile Suits and duke it out against either online opponents or the AI. Gundam Versus allows players to use over 94+ different robots from over 17 different Gundam series such as Gundam Wing, the original Gundam and Gundam F91! Players can not only unlock different navigators to speak during battle but can also unlock different pilots and support units called strikers. With so many different game modes, suits to choose from and things to unlock, Gundam Versus offers up a hefty dose of fan homage for all those who love the Gundam franchise.

Story

In Gundam Versus, players will be able to choose various Gundam and Mobile suits spanning over a few decades of the Gundam franchise. You can choose to play through survival mode, trial mode and or take your battle online via ranked matches or casual bouts. Choose your favorite Gundam or Mobile Suit and unleash destruction on your enemies! Win and glory can become yours. Gundam Versus goes back to the very first Gundam ever released and goes to the more recent series such as Gundam Unicorn or Gundam Thunderbolt. Show your love for your favorite mech and enter the battle in Gundam Versus!

Gameplay

Developer Bandai Namco Entertainment isn’t new to the anime fighting game scene. By now, the world is used to having some of our favorite anime franchises become 3D fighting titles. Though with Gundam Versus, many of us wondered how anyone could take the Gundam mechs and Mobile Suits we love so much and make a competent fighter when past titles have tried and come up short. Well here at Honey’s Anime we got our hands on Gundam Versus and after playing for quite some time we have out verdict on if Bandai Namco Entertainment finally pulled it off and made an amazing Gundam fighting game. Here is our review of Gundam Versus

Gundam Versus takes over 17 different series from the Gundam franchise and mashes them together in a fighting game title. Players can choose one of 94+ Gundam and Mobile Suits to play as all while choosing various pilots and assist characters in the form of Strikers. While we were worried that maybe all 94 would be clones of each other in terms of gameplay style, we were genuinely surprised each mech handled quite differently. Take HeavyArms Custom from Gundam Wing. With no main melee weapon besides a knife, HeavyArms Custom relies on gun fire and ranged attacks, meanwhile Barbados—from Iron Blooded Orphans—relies on mostly in your face attacks. The whole roster of mechs feels diverse and unique meaning be prepared to want to try out everything from Zaku II units to DeathScythe.

Now while each Gundam and Mobile Suit control differently, the actual important concept of Gundam Versus is that it does play well. On one hand, Gundam Versus handles incredibly well allowing players a slew of quick movements and a different means of fighting thanks to various long-range attacks to special attacks and even assist attacks. Though on the other hand, Gundam Versus takes some time to get used to. A lot of the controls can be used in multiple ways and that sometimes can get incredibly annoying in battle. For example, if you were to use the original Gundam’s long range spear throw you would hit one of the shoulder buttons. Equally, if you hit that same shoulder button while moving, it will activate your thrusters and launch you up in the air. Another example is you can activate your special mode—which is called either Blazing Gear for melee focused specials or Lightning Gear for ranged attacks—by hitting the analog buttons in or hitting both shoulder triggers at the same time. Needless to say, be prepared to go through the tutorial mode if you plan on going online and playing against others.

Speaking of tutorial mode, let us discuss all the modes available in Gundam Versus and what should have been here. Players can choose from various modes such as Ultimate Battle, Casual Online, Ranked Matches and Trial Mode to name a few of the major modes of play. Ultimate Battle acts as a survival mode with numerous waves for the player—or players if you should choose to go for co-op—to fight in, with each wave getting tougher and the ability to level up after several waves. Trial Mode feels like an arcade mode and allows players to go through several battles in a row with their mech of choice. Online is where most players will really want to be—though we have some warnings to mention later in our review—where you can go into battles as a team of 3 vs 3 or 2 vs 2 and even 1 vs 1. While a story mode would have been nice—and feels like a missed opportunity in our opinion—there are so many different gameplay modes to choose from that you’ll find yourself not getting bored even after several hours of playing one over and over.

Graphically, Gundam Versus is a bit of a meh experience. While the various mechs look nice, the environments suffer from being extremely bland and old looking. While it doesn’t destroy the experience—as you’ll mostly be focusing on battles to notice—it still would have been nice to see some different arenas besides the same city, space and desert backgrounds over and over again. Though where Gundam Versus truly shines spectacularly is the incredible soundtrack. While Gundam Versus doesn’t contain all of the songs from the various series, it contains quite a bit of opening songs such as the very first Gundam opening, TM Revolution’s Invoke from Gundam Seed—which is one of our favorites—and even Gundam Thunderbolts Jazz theme. Some don’t sound that great for a fighting game, but just because they are here, it shows Bandai Namco Entertainment clearly wanted to appease us die-hard fans.

Now Gundam Versus has some issues as we mentioned but there are a few more we’d like to discuss, one being very minor as an issue and the other a bit more problematic. Gundam Versus has a lot to unlock and we mean a lot, there are navigators, various assist strikers and a ton of other components but it will take you some time to do it. We have played for quite some time and have barely unlocked more than a few navigators and Strikers to use and we’re not sure if how long it takes is completely fair to be honest. However, that issue pails in comparison to Gundam Versus biggest problem, the online connectivity. We played a few dozen games in all settings and while there were times Gundam Versus ran silky smooth, often we ran into huge lag spikes and almost game crashing levels of slowdowns. There was a time when we were in a 1 vs 1 fight and Gundam Versus looked like a slideshow of movement. We really hope this issue can be patched soon because Gundam Versus relies on its online component and having it run at times good and other times horrendous makes us fear how long players will put up with it when a game can go downhill thanks to lag.

Honey's Gameplay Consensus:

Gundam Versus is what we here at Honey’s Anime would we would consider a game made for fans. With over 94+ Gundam and Mobile Suits and several DLC packs that offer more to choose from, Gundam Versus has one of the largest rosters of Gundam mechs we’ve seen in any title released in the West. While combat is fun and the fact that we can control some of our favorite mechs, Gundam Versus does suffer from a lack of a story mode and so ho hum graphics in terms of the environments. Controls also take some getting use too and online play suffers from terrible lag at times. However, when Gundam Versus works it works incredibly well and we can whole heartily recommend it to anyone who loves the Gundam world as much as we do here at Honey’s Anime. Though for those looking for a more serious fighting game you may want to think about how serious of a fighter you’re looking for as Gundam Versus is more geared for relaxed fighting game fans.

Honey's Pros:

Amazing levels of nostalgia

Wonderful use of different soundtracks from the Gundam franchise

Fun gameplay

Incredible amount of Gundam and Mobile Suits to choose from

Fast and fun gameplay

Tons of content to unlock

Honey's Cons:

Missing G Gundam suits

Where is Wing Zero Custom

Bland and weak environments

Controls take some getting used to

Can be extremely lag filled online

Honey's Final Verdict:

Gundam video games haven’t graced the west too often to be honest. Sure, we’ve had several titles but only a few are considered great additions to any Gundam fan’s library of gaming titles. If you consider yourself a die-hard fan of the Gundam franchise then you absolutely must pick up Gundam Versus. While it far from a perfect game and graphically it isn’t always impressive, you can clearly tell Bandai Namco Entertainment put in some love for those who love the beloved Sunrise franchise. We now give you the stage to let us know your thoughts on not only our review of Gundam Versus but also what you think about the game as well. Comment down below and for all your video game reviews and articles be sure to stick to us here at Honey’s Anime.

Writer

Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!